February 17, 2010

"The happiness that is genuinely satisfying is accompanied by the fullest exercise of our faculties and the fullest realization of the world in which we live." - Bertrand Russell





Cape Verde has surpassed many others to earn the title as world’s second largest and greatest Carnivale, only after Brazil. The past few days I was able to experience first hand the amusement and waywardness that characterize Carnivale Cape Verde. The festival is a wild and vivacious celebration of music, costume and culture, leading up to Tuesday’s Festa de Mardi Gras. For the much awaited event, I travelled to Sao Vicente’s primary city, MIndelo, where I stayed with fellow Peace Corps volunteers. In anticipation of the upcoming 48 hours of nonstop adrenaline and little sleep, we began the festivities with a tame mid day trip to the beach. Enjoying perfect weather and basking in the warmth of the sun’s rays.


We returned to my friend’s house where we watched the sunset over the harbor from her balcony. As the sky turned from a pale blue to a brilliant orange, to deep red and finally to black, we witnessed the sounds and sights of a new world emerge. Night one. We assembled our costumes and joined in the revelry below. At 11:30 pm, crowds lined the streets, sitting on shoulders, perched on roof tops cheering as performers and dancers passed by in a night parade. After finding a buleia, free ride, to the other side of town, we used our American skills of persuasion, or maybe it would be more accurate to say female skills of persuasion, to gain admittance to the sold out party Fike, an abandoned warehouse turned disco, where we danced until sunrise.

Day two. We put together our stereotypical Carnivale costumes of brightly colored feather boas, elaborate masks, fish net gloves and glitter embellished tutus. Noon we made our way through the crowded streets to Mindelo’s central Praça. We quickly merged in with the vast throng of onlookers, eagerly waiting for the procession to begin. As the rhythmic melody of beating drums swept over the town, the parade took to the streets. How do I begin to explain Carnivale? A spectacle of vibrant colors, masses of feathers, shimmering glitter catching and reflecting back the rays of the sun, vivid lights, enigmatic characters concealed by masks and themed costumes, elaborate floats, costumed performers and entertainers. Carnival is a hybrid of Halloween and New Orlean’s Mardi Gras where the eccentric is normal and where the normal is nothing more than lackluster. 10 pastels, 5 bottles of water, 4 energy drinks, 4 meat shishkabob things, some shoarmas, a few other drinks, a stranger’s birthday cake and 48 hours later, Carnivale 2010 came to a close. So who is ready to visit next year?